“But we don’t have any Champagne here,” Laine said, stepping onto the pier.
“I wasn’t thinking about Champagne but knowing my brother, I’m sure it’s fully stocked.”
“Won’t they miss us at our reception?”
Grabbing her hand, he helped her up the gangway and onto the yacht. “Don’t care. Come on, Mrs. Anderson. I’m ready to start our honeymoon now.”
Twirling her around, Wyatt pulled Laine into his arms, kissing her deeply. “Have I told you yet today how much I love you?”
Pretending to think about it, Laine smiled up at him. “Only three or four times. Fairly sure I’m due for another,” she teased.
Lifting her up into his arms as she wrapped her arms around his neck, he kissed her again. “I love you, Mrs. Anderson.”
“And I love you, Mr. Anderson. Forever and always.”
“Forever and always.”
***
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***
Keep reading for more Anderson Brothers!
Grey’s Story by Lizabeth Scott
Chased by the Billionaire
Chapter 1
Greyson
“Grey-Grey, come back to bed.”
Greyson Anderson shook his head at the absurd name and stumbled a bit as he pulled on his pants. In the light of day and somewhat hung over, he had no idea what he’d seen in the sweet but intellectually challenged Bambi with an “I.” The sheet dropped from her nude body as she sat up in bed. His eyes were drawn lower. Yeah, there were those.
“Sorry, babe. I’ve got to catch my flight, but thanks for the fun night.” Grey searched the imported Italian marble floor for his left shoe while running his hands through his disheveled hair.
“Oh,” Bambi said quietly.
The disappointment in her voice only annoyed him. Locating the shoe wedged into the cushions of the loveseat, he jammed his sockless foot into the canvas Docker and buttoned his blue-striped Oxford shirt. Checking his cell phone, he frowned at the time—he needed to let his pilot know he would be late.
“Will I see you again?” Bambi pulled her shoulders back and brought her assets into full view.
Grey composed the text without looking up. “Probably not.” He pressed send and headed for the door.
“Ok. Well, call me sometime,” she mumbled sadly.
Grey stopped at the door and turned back to the bed where Bambi sat, blue silk sheet pooling around her perfectly-modified body, her eager gaze filled with uncertainty. He didn’t have time, but he wasn’t an absolute cad. He did have some manners. “Honey, you knew we only hooked up last night for some fun. And I thank you for such an enthusiastic evening.” He gave her his best smile, the one known to melt panties.
Bambi giggled and her eyes sparkled once again with delight. “I enjoyed it too, Grey-Grey. Thank you.”
Always leave them happy. That was his motto. “You take care now, and I hope your daddy enjoys his new yacht.”
Grey was out the door, mentally rearranging his schedule because of his late start. Nights like the one he’d just spent were one of the perks of his business. He’d delivered their yacht and taken the family out for an inaugural sail. After Mr. and Ms. Dimitriadis had left, their twenty-five-year-old daughter Bambi had insisted he take her for a more intimate sail. Who was he to argue? And there were those two very impressive reasons.
Walking down the stairs, he gave the boat a final glance. The Dimitriadis family would have many pleasure-filled cruises on their new yacht. Moments like these he felt proudest of what he’d accomplished with his business. He picked up his suitcase and walked down the gangway onto the marina deck. Ah, he loved his life. As he pulled his phone out to call a taxi, the display lit up with an incoming call. Seeing his brother’s face on the screen, he grinned and pushed the button to answer.
“Hey, Alexander. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Did you get her delivered?”
“I sure did. It was smooth sailing the whole way, and the captain said she handles like a dream.”
“Of course she does—you wouldn’t make anything less than a perfect vessel. Can I assume that the lovely Dimitriadis heiress enjoyed one of the custom-designed berths last night since you didn’t stop by?”
Grey feigned an indignant gasp. “There you go again, Xander, underestimating me. Frankly, it hurts,” he teased. As a child just learning to speak Alexander had been a mouthful for Grey. While his brother was Alexander to everyone else in the family, he would always be Xander to him. Plus, Xander hated the childhood nickname and that was always a bonus.
Alexander chuckled. “Are you telling me you didn’t sleep with…what was her name, Bambi?”
“Yes, with an I,” he said in all seriousness. “But I’m shocked that you doubt me, brother. You know we had to christen the boat.” Grey could picture his brother shaking his head at his outlandish behavior. Outlandish to some, normal for Grey. So what? He was young and he liked to have fun. A lot of fun. Alexander was just jealous because he rarely had fun.
“Someday, Grey, you are going to fall just like the others.”
“Never! Not going to happen.” He and Xander were the last two holdouts. Their three brothers had succumbed to what they called “marital bliss.” He liked their wives, their offspring were cute, and he was glad to see his brothers so happy, but he had no intentions of changing his single status anytime soon.
Alexander chuckled, “Have a safe flight and I’ll see you in a few weeks, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be over before the end of the month.”
“See ya then.” Grey disconnected, then called an Uber, and went into the convenience store by the marina for a bottle of water while he waited. He was disappointed he didn’t have time to spend with his brother in Porto Heli after delivering the yacht, but he had a client coming in back home that he had to meet with.
***
The next few days flew by for Greyson as he tried to catch up from being gone for three weeks. He had a staff that could handle initial meets and deliveries, but he wanted each of his clients to feel special—even spoiled. And private meetings with the owner of the billion-dollar yacht company with personal delivery were just a few ways they stood apart from other yacht builders. Deliveries were time-consuming, but if a customer couldn’t pick up, then he personally delivered their brand new multi-million-dollar yacht, even if it took weeks to cruise to their destination. He felt he’d earned time off to take his own Saundra E. for an afternoon sail.
Grey pulled his 911 Targa GTS into his personal parking space in the Wrightsville Beach Marina, opened the glove box, took out his Wilmington Sharks baseball cap, pulled it on over his dark brown hair and adjusted his aviators.
In less than an hour, he was underway with the sails flying high, the sun bouncing off the water, and wind blowing across his upturned face. Grey always found peace on the open sea that centered him as nothing else could.
He only stayed out a few hours, but it was enough to reenergize him. He reversed his course and headed back, in a much better mood. As he entered the marina, he cut his speed to a crawl and carefully maneuvered his way through boat and jet ski traffic. He kept his eyes on a fishing boat nearing his starboard, the Amanda Claire—he assumed she was leaving the marina for an afternoon charter fishing cruise.
As the boats passed each other, a glint of sunlight caught his eye from the bow of the Amanda Claire. Grey lifted his sunglasses for an unobstructed view of a stunning woman on deck as she laughed with an older gentleman at the helm. Most of her dirty-blond hair was pulled up in a pon
ytail, but she kept tucking a few windblown strands behind her dainty ears.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She wore jean shorts and a plain loose-fitting purple t-shirt. Her figure was nice, but it was her face he couldn’t stop staring at. When she laughed, her head tipped back, her eyes squinted upward, and her lush pink lips opened, framing straight white teeth. But those things weren’t what caught his attention. When she laughed, her face transformed, coming alive with a glowing radiance. He wanted her. He wanted to sink into her and watch her beautiful face as he brought her pleasure, he knew the sight would be spectacular.
Some invisible force pulled his head around to watch the beaming smile she flashed to the captain as the Amanda Claire pulled past and headed out to sea. He wanted that radiant smile turned on him. Grey wanted to call out to her and say…what? Eventually, the boat disappeared in the distance and Grey’s attention returned to maneuvering his boat into the marina. He glided into his slip, cut the engine, and jumped onto the dock, tying the bow and stern dock lines to cleats. Who was she? The vision of her smiling face stayed with him the entire time he closed and cleaned the Saundra E. Maybe he’d hang around until she returned. He checked the time and swore—he had a meeting with a fixture distributor in thirty minutes. He gazed out into the channel where the Amanda Claire had gone, resolving to find her. Wrightsville Beach wasn’t that big a place.
A week passed with no other sightings, leading him to believe she had been a tourist, and that thought made him irrationally blue. Grey had become way too obsessed with finding her. Even now, as he drove to the Greenway, he hoped to see her smiling face in every car he passed.
He pulled into the parking lot as Charley, his best bud, pulled in. A good run would help clear his mind. Charley always pushed him, and he wouldn’t be able to daydream about her. He’d dated models and actresses, but none of them had piqued his interest as the woman in the boat.
“Hey, man! How was Greece?” Charley was a big bad Marine whom Grey had known since high school. They’d fought over a girl in ninth grade and ended up ditching the girl and becoming best friends.
“Beautiful as usual. How’s Bethany?” When Charley didn’t answer, Grey looked up and narrowed his eyes. From the look on Charley’s face, Grey knew he was upset. “Charley. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. We came here to run. Let’s go.” Charley started toward the pathway.
They were three miles into the run when Grey tried again. “You ready to talk, Marine?”
Charley’s answer was to speed up, leaving Grey behind. He shook his head and wondered if he’d make it back to his car alive at the grueling pace Charley set. He wiped sweat from his brow and got into the zone of breathing and pumping his legs.
During their cool down, when he could manage to speak, he took a gulp of water and tried again. “I think the fact that I kept up with your muscle-burning pace earned an answer. But if you don’t want to talk about it, fine. Just know that I’m here for you.”
“Thanks, man. Sorry about the run. I just needed to push today, ya know?”
Grey doused his head with a squirt of water and shook off the excess. “Yeah, sure. No problem.”
“Bethany wants to have a baby.”
Grey stumbled in surprise. “What?”
Charley grimaced. “Yeah, that was my reaction too. She says we need to have a kid before we get too old to conceive.”
“Old? You’re only a year older than me. That’s not old, man.”
“Her doctor told her that every year after thirty, your odds of conceiving decline.”
Grey blinked. That couldn’t be right. Thirty was young. He was thirty-one, and he wasn’t anywhere near ready to settle down and spit out kids.
“Then I got to thinking, when the kid graduates from high school, I’ll be near fifty.”
Fifty seemed so far away. Maybe closer than yesterday but still a distance ahead. “That’s still not old, man.” But, yeah, it was.
Grey stopped when the swinging ponytail ahead of him looked familiar. His stomach gave a lurch. It was her! “Hang on, give me a minute. I’ve got to talk to this girl.”
“Oh, come on, Grey. You never stop, do you? Well, I’m not going to be your wingman. I’ll see ya.”
Grey didn’t say goodbye or even acknowledge Charley’s exit—all he could focus on was not losing sight of the swaying hips ahead. Today she wore tight, stretchy teal and silver pants, a matching bra thing that women wore to work out in, and running shoes. The rear view was every bit as captivating as the front. Even with her hair pulled up high on her head it still reached her mid back. He could only imagine what the shimmering blond tresses would look like spread out on his pillow. Her waist and hips were trim and tight, the globes of her butt rounded into a perfect heart shape and her long, toned legs would look so good wrapped around his waist.
He put a little more effort into his jog and lessened the distance between them and didn’t even care that the abused muscles in his legs were screaming in protest.
“Hey!” he called out as he neared her side, tossing his hair back to get it out of his eyes. Her steps slowed and then she turned her brilliant smile in his direction. Up close, she was even more spectacular than he’d imagined.
“Hi, Grey.”
Grey faltered when she called him by name. He searched her adorable face for some recognition, coming up empty. “Do I know you?” She laughed and it went straight to his stomach and set free a hundred butterflies.
“You should,” she teased, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief.
As strange as it sounded, he got the feeling she was reprimanding him for not knowing her. “I’m sorry, I can’t remember. How do I know you?”
A flash of disappointment crossed her eyes and then bubbled over with her sweet innocence. “I don’t think I’m going to tell you.”
Children were in the playground area and a group of teens played music from a phone; cars and trucks occasionally rumbled by, yet Grey felt as if they were the only two people on the Greenway trail. He couldn’t look away from her enchanting eyes. She was more beautiful up close, even covered in a light layer of perspiration. His mom would say she was glowing. He almost lost his balance again when he realized he’d just thought of a woman and his mom at the same time. That had never happened before.
“It was nice seeing you again, Grey.”
She was halfway down the stairs to the next trail before his senses returned. “Hey, Mystery Girl. Can I see you again?” She didn’t turn around—all she did was throw her hand up in acknowledgment. Grey appreciated the movements of her lush figure until she was out of sight, then turned and limped back to his car. If he hadn’t been so wiped out from his run with Charley, he would have chased her, caught her, and taken her out on his boat, and they wouldn’t return for a least a week. And just because he was starting to feel things more, didn’t mean he was getting old.
Even as he sped away, Grey was still trying to place her. She knew him, but he couldn’t remember ever meeting someone like her. He would have remembered her.
Chapter 2
Greyson
A week later he saw her again. She was walking along the sandy surf toward his parents’ beach house where he’d come for a family barbecue. She wore a white-and-blue floaty sundress and held brown leather sandals. Waves washing ashore played around the long hem of the dress. Occasionally, she’d raise the skirt to keep an unusually high splash from drenching the fabric, showing a peek of her toned thigh, which he considered an appetizer. Tonight, he’d find the answer to the burning question he’d been day-dreaming about—what she looked like when she came.
He timed it just right and met up with her as she approached the beach in front of his parents’ vacation house. He stepped right in front of her, so she had no option but to stop walking and look at him.
“We meet again, Mystery Girl.” She laughed, and a charge ran over his body like a surge of electricity at the musical sound. His nostrils flared as the ocean
breeze teased him with her unique pheromones. Her nose turned up slightly at the end and Grey dug his nails into his palm to stop himself from leaning into her and planting a kiss on the tip. This wasn’t how he played the game. He had mad skills and it was time to put them to good use.
“Hi, Grey. Are your parents having a party?” Her eyes sparkled as she nodded toward the house.
Grey mentally shook himself out of the day dream. He wasn’t going to lose his chance with her this time. But wait… “You know this is my parents’ house?”
She shielded her eyes from the setting sun and squinted up at him. “Of course.”
All his best lines, the ones he’d used to sway even the most decidedly difficult woman to his way of thinking, fizzled on his tongue. Instead, he brilliantly asked, “Who are you?”
She shook her head and grinned with her vivid blue eyes full of secrets. “We’ve already been through that. Do you want to walk with me? I still need to get my steps in for the day.”
He followed along beside her like a well-trained mutt. “You’re not going to tell me?”
She laughed and splashed through the surf. “Nope.”
Grey watched her graceful movements as she took a stretchy band from around her wrist and captured her wind-blown hair into a messy knot on top of her head. Even her delicate hands gave him mental images of what other things he’d like her to do with those hands. They walked along in silence for a few moments. He had no idea how to do small talk, especially with a woman. He’d never had to before. The most talking he’d had to do before was to ask if they wanted it harder, faster, from behind, or all the above. No, scratch that—he rarely gave them an option. They took what he gave them, and his rep between the sheets was celebrated by women far and wide, so he must be doing something right. But this woman was different. She wasn’t falling all over him trying to get his attention. And he wanted her even more. How do you make a woman notice you? He hadn’t a clue. Ask her something stupid, women like to talk about themselves? He ran his hand through his hair in irritation. “What do you do when you’re not being a Mystery Girl?”
Billionaires On the Beach: The Anderson Brothers Page 24